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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27385903">This is why we can't have nice things</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/craploadsofawesome/pseuds/craploadsofawesome'>craploadsofawesome</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Haunting of Bly Manor (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Found Family Feels, Hurt/Comfort, Jamie-centric, Mild Angst, No one dies!, Tumblr Prompt</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 00:15:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>17,107</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27385903</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/craploadsofawesome/pseuds/craploadsofawesome</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Now it just seemed like whenever Dani was within reach, Jamie’s hands were always reaching out for her. Playing with her hair, tapping out morse code I love yous on her shoulder, tangling their fingers together. Dani grounded her, in a way that even her plants couldn’t. Nature gave her contentment; Dani was sheer joy. </i><br/><br/><i>She squeezed Dani’s hand, felt an answering squeeze in return, and the pain abated for that one millisecond. </i><br/><br/>Now a collection of all my (unrelated, disconnected) tumblr prompt fics</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dani Clayton/Jamie, Hannah Grose/Owen Sharma, Minor or Background Relationship(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>608</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Based off a prompt I received on tumblr.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The three rules to getting hurt at Bly Manor, or so Jamie’s heard are these: One, no climbing up on the ledge that hangs midway off the parapet, not even to clear that pesky ivy that hangs all over the walls, very un-aesthetically; two, no putting yourself in precarious situations when Miles was around because the boy had a tendency of fainting around blood; and three, the one that was crucial, no screaming for Dani in case of blood. Especially not when Jamie was the one shedding aforementioned blood. </p><p>Saturday made the entire household break rule one, two and three in spectacular fashion. </p><p>And it’s such a pity, because the day had started off so well. Jamie had woken up, Dani still snoozing in her arms and had gotten to witness one of nature’s greatest miracles so far: Dani Clayton, prim and proper au pair, drooling on her pillow. An embarrassed facepalm and about five adoring kisses later, they’d found themselves eating Owen’s patented pancakes in the kitchen with the rest of the family. The weekend had found them all lazing around, Flora practically falling into her plate, Miles taking embarrassing photos of her from all angles while being only halfway deterred by Hanna’s warning tsks. After breakfast, Dani had gone to the other side of the house to supervise the kids, and Jamie had walked outside to do a bit of trimming. </p><p>It was then that she fucked up first. The ivy just looked so wild and overgrown and she knew she could trim most of it if she could just get up on the ledge. All she had to do was climb up, and then grab onto something and she’d be al— </p><p>***** </p><p>The adrenaline kept the pain at bay for thirty seconds. It was after those thirty seconds of falling, crashing and her heartbeat pounding in her ears, so loud that it seemed it had set up a new home in her head, the first wave arrived, and before she could control it, the cry escaped her lips. </p><p>Jamie gritted her teeth, took stock of the situation. There could be something broken; she could guess from the fact that she absolutely couldn’t move her right arm that was still trapped under her body. </p><p>Alright, she could do this. Just had to get up and get inside without making any more noise to alert anyone. </p><p>There were just a couple of things that could be a hindrance. The first being the extreme pain that was ringing like static in her ear, a precursor to her previous fainting spells. The second being the fact that she could hear running footsteps from the corridor. Jamie closed her eyes, hoped that it was, by some miracle, Owen or Hannah. </p><p>She opened it to the sight of Flora and Miles staring at her. Of course, what Miles was doing was only half-close to that statement. His face was turned away, eyes shielded from the sight by his raised hand. </p><p>“Flora, don’t—” </p><p>“Dani! Dani! Jamie’s hurt! Come quick!” </p><p>Well, that was that, then. </p><p>The pain had grown so much that she could feel every part of her arm throbbing. Jamie closed her eyes, heard, very slowly, through static, as though it was coming from very far away, Dani’s sweet voice asking if Jamie could hear her. And then, nothing. </p><p>***** </p><p>She woke up to the sight of Miles lying on the floor next to her. </p><p>Consciousness was the annoying poke of a finger on her arm, a probing finger that somehow knew exactly where it hurt. Jamie groaned, opened her eyes to see the doctor peering at her, turned her head, saw Miles passed out next to her, and closed it again. </p><p>(Definitely not heaven, then) </p><p>She could also feel Dani’s soft fingers over her other, uninjured hand, and this was perhaps a strange moment to notice it, but there truly was no better peace than the feeling of Dani’s hand on hers. Jamie had had a lot of time to self-evaluate, back when she was locked up, and one of the things that she’d discovered, that she ached for human touch in a way that terrified her. Growing up in a turbulent household hadn’t really given her a lot of chances to receive affection, so she’d become an adult with intense space issues and an inherent craving to be touched, felt and held. It just wasn’t this tangible a need before she’d fallen in love with Dani.  </p><p>Now it just seemed like whenever Dani was within reach, Jamie’s hands were always reaching out for her. Playing with her hair, tapping out Morse code <em>I love </em><em>you</em>s on her shoulder, tangling their fingers together. Dani grounded her, in a way that even her plants couldn’t. Nature gave her contentment; Dani was sheer joy. </p><p>She squeezed Dani’s hand, felt an answering squeeze in return, and the pain abated for that one millisecond. </p><p>***** </p><p>“So, good news,” Jamie announced, dryly, even though her arm was protesting. “Turns out my arm isn’t broken. Yay!” </p><p>Dani glared at her so hard she could almost hear the words written all over her face: <em>You. Idiot. Big Trouble. </em>  </p><p>Jamie turned to Owen, begged for help. </p><p>“In other good news,” he cut in, hastily, “Miles also faints at the sight of awkwardly angled bones!” </p><p>Miles sputtered for words. </p><p>“I didn’t,” he started, floundered, “faint! It was a momentary nap!” </p><p>Flora giggled. </p><p>“I — Hannah!” </p><p>“Of course you didn’t faint, poppet,” she reassured him, though her lips were twitching. “Flora, could you help Owen out with dinner?” </p><p>“But what if Miles faints again?” she asked, and the last either Jamie or Dani saw of them was Hannah chasing an irate Miles who was running after his sister. </p><p>Jamie looked at the ceiling, the door, the nightstand, and finally, at Dani’s inscrutable face. </p><p>“Blimey,” she tried. “Children, eh?” </p><p>Dani blinked at her. “I’m gonna help them,” she said, blankly, and then walked away. </p><p>So much for a perfect Saturday. </p><p>***** </p><p>Dani next came in during dinnertime. Placed the tray on the nightstand, and then just stood there, looking a little lost. Jamie hated it. </p><p>“Darling?” she asked, softly, hand reaching out to loosely grab at Dani’s wrist. “You wanna sit down?” </p><p>Dani jerked a little, blinked.  </p><p>“I,” she said, bit down on her lip, and the action wasn’t lost on her. Dani would usually bite her lip when she was anxious about something. </p><p>“I can’t — I can’t think.” </p><p>“Okay,” Jamie said, leaned up a little, pulled softly, and this time Dani let herself be pulled onto the bed. “That’s okay. Take your time.” </p><p>Dani was breathing heavily, and Jamie waited. Kept her hand very, very still on Dani’s, and waited for the panic to pass. </p><p>“You can’t do that again,” she said, when her breathing was even again. </p><p>“Dani, I know, I—” </p><p>“No, hear me out, okay? You were lying on the ground, blacking out and you couldn’t fucking hear me or say anything other than my name, and you — you were in so much pain, Jamie. I couldn’t—” </p><p>“—Dani,” </p><p>“I couldn’t do anything! You said my name, and I couldn’t help! I was just. I was so useless—” </p><p>“Dani,” Jamie kissed her cheek, her shirt clad shoulder, gently rubbed at her arm with her uninjured hand. Dani’s breath was speeding up again. “Baby, baby, stop. I’m okay. You got me inside okay—” </p><p>“—I’m just sick of watching the people around me getting hurt, okay? Feel like we’ve had quite enough of that already.” </p><p>Jamie closed her eyes. Kissed Dani’s cheek again, and buried her face in her neck. </p><p>“I’m sorry,” Jamie said, finally.  </p><p>Dani took a shuddering breath, turned to face her and kissed her for the first time after the accident. Jamie felt the tears sticking to her cheeks, felt the careful, restrained way Dani’s lips moved over hers, and felt the sudden, embarrassing urge to cry herself. She wanted to bury her head in Dani’s chest and cry until she fell asleep, wanted to be touched, felt, held. She heard Dani murmur<em> You’re okay, You’re okay </em> between kisses, felt her hands trembling as they moved over her face, and, not for the first time, thanked whatever higher power was up there for creating the miracle that was Dani Clayton. </p><p>***** </p><p>“You’re an idiot.” </p><p>There she was. Jamie grinned at her, tilted her chin a little so Dani could get better access to the tiny scratches that had somehow bled, unnoticed, near her neck. </p><p>“But I’m your idiot, am I not?” </p><p>Dani looked at her in that half-exasperated, half-fond way of hers, carefully kept dabbing at the cut with disinfectant, and stuck out her tongues. </p><p>“Ouch,” Jamie muttered, just because she could. </p><p>“Where?” Dani was immediately on alert. “Where does it hurt?” </p><p>“Sorry, sorry,” she apologized, contrite. “I was kidding. Doesn’t actually hurt.” </p><p>Dani glared at her. “Oh, it doesn’t? What about now?” </p><p>(The subsequent cry of pain was closer to accurate. Also completely deserved) </p><p>“You giant baby.” </p><p>“Eh,” Jamie shrugged. “You love me.” </p><p>Dani finished putting the band-aid on it, then bent to give the spot a quick kiss. </p><p>“I do, unfortunately,” Dani said. “I really, really do.” </p><p>Jamie tapped out another Morse code <em>I love you </em> on her back. </p><p>***** </p><p>“You bullied Owen into baking a strawberry cake for dinner? Dani, you know he hates the flavor.” </p><p>Dani giggled, and the sound felt like a warm blanket settling over her. “But you love it.” </p><p>“I do, but I could’ve eaten anything else, you know that. I’m easy, me.” </p><p>“I know that,” Dani said, looking right at her, very seriously. But I don’t want you to just have to eat anything, you know?” </p><p>“What do you mean?” </p><p>“I mean,” she looked away, searching for words, “that I know you can eat almost anything, and that includes the things you hate, but I want — I want to give you the things you like, okay? I know that technically, you can eat eggplant, and that you can eat pineapple and you can eat mushrooms, but I’d rather you didn’t have to. That’s not the kind of relationship you deserve, alright? I guess I just — I just want you to eat the things you like, that’s all. No adjustments.” </p><p>There was the stupid impulse again. Jamie closed her eyes, tried, very, very hard to stop the tears, the burning in her throat. It took a moment. </p><p>“Have I ever told you,” she said, when she was sure her voice wouldn’t crack, “how much I love you?” </p><p>Dani’s smile was tremulous, and bright and the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. “Not in so many words, no.” </p><p>Jamie smiled back. </p><p>***** </p><p>The next day, Jamie woke up and stared at the ivy hanging over the wall. Watched Miles and Flora running around on the parapet, heard Owen and Hannah yelling terms of endearments at each other through the house, and wrapped an arm around Dani’s shoulder. </p><p>“You sure I can’t—” </p><p>“—absolutely not.” </p><p>“The things you do for love,” she said, and kissed Dani instead. </p><p>The things you do for love, indeed. </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Someone on tumblr asked me to write a fic based on what would have happened if Jamie had rejected Dani in the greenhouse scene, and I found it prime angst material so yeah.</p><p>Canon-divergence, but not by much????</p><p>Just. Happy reading! Take care, y'all</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jamie has long decided she’s going to live, and die alone, when Dani Clayton, au pair extraordinaire, walks into her life and upturns that plan very nicely. </p><p>It’s not like she sets out to do that, to be fair. Not like Dani knows the sheer magnetism that dogs her footsteps, knows the force with which her bright, blue eyes demand attention. She isn’t affected by the same energy that permeates the air in every room she walks into. Dani Clayton is trouble, and like every girl in the world who is trouble, she has no clue.  </p><p>And Jamie, like any other sad sucker who is prone to falling in love with tiny, pretty girls with eyes of steel, takes one look at her and decides to stay the fuck away. </p><p>(And thus begins the story of the biggest failure in history, ever) </p><p>She tries. Tries not to let her eyes linger on Dani, not even when she asks her if she’d seen a man on the parapet, although it’s hard. Trouble or not, Dani Clayton is the kind of girl who was born to draw attention. But she keeps on laughing with Hannah and teasing Owen about going after the new au pair. </p><p>(Here’s the thing about what you want. It’s easier to deal with never having it if you know it was never yours to have) </p><p>But then she finds Dani having a panic attack behind the statue, and she can’t help herself. She stands there, staring at Dani’s back, and tries her very best to make her smile.  </p><p>(And dear God, when that girl smiles in her direction, it’s like there’s a light shining right on her head, a choir playing in the background, flowers falling and gently landing on top of her. Jamie tries to blink it away. It doesn’t work) </p><p>One conversation turns to a second one on the couch, and this time Jamie has no excuses. She sits on the couch, Dani at her side, and can’t help the way her eyes stay on Dani, can’t help wanting to talk to her more and more, can’t help thinking<em> What are you doing to </em><em>me</em>. She wants to stay up the whole night just talking to this strange woman with so much sorrow hidden in her eyes. Jamie feels weak, feels way out of her depth. <em>This wasn’t the </em><em>plan; </em>she tells herself every five minutes.  </p><p>And then they kiss, and all plans flip upside down. </p><p>***** </p><p>Jamie remembers love as a distant language that has never quite made sense to her. </p><p>It never ends well. </p><p>For every gentle hair ruffle her mother left on her head, there’s another imprint of her footstep walking away; for all the meager memories she has of her brothers, there’s one that stands out the most – the day they came to take them away and put her younger brother in a home. For every kiss she’s received, there’s an indelible mark on her chest as a reminder of the loss that is, inevitably, to come. </p><p>At this point in her life, Jamie has forgotten so many pieces of herself behind with people, that she isn’t sure there’s enough left of her to piece together, isn’t sure if what’s still standing can even count as a whole person. </p><p>(And here’s another thing about what you want. It’s easier to deal with losing it if you refuse to go after it in the first place) </p><p>(Dani will leave. There are no two ways about it.) </p><p>(And if — when — she does, Jamie is certain there won’t be anything left of her anymore) </p><p>“It would be kinda boring, wouldn’t it?” Dani asks her, raw hope shining in her eyes, her words, and God, Jamie can’t do this. </p><p>“Dani,” she says, “I’m sorry, I — I can’t.” </p><p>There’s a dreadful attempt at a smile, that Jamie can’t bear to watch.  </p><p>“Okay,” Dani says, and when Flora wanders out, an entirely different kind of hell begins. </p><p>***** </p><p>Here’s something about love Jamie’s discovered since she’s met Dani: you really, really can’t help it at all. </p><p>She says no, but she can’t stay away. Says no, but her eyes still seek out Dani every time they’re in a room together, still feel an odd sense of euphoria and relief whenever she’s in her line of sight, as if a gentle hand is tapping on her heart, letting it know it’ll be alright. They’re still talking, and Jamie can’t help the way her hands sometimes reach out for Dani, and she has to consciously ball them up into little lovestruck fists. </p><p>“I’m gonna go,” she tells Dani, reluctantly, after Flora’s been put to bed.  </p><p>“Oh,” Dani replies, her eyes wide, her voice soft. “You could.... you could stay, you know? It’s late.” </p><p>And Jesus, Jamie wants to. She wants to step forward and hold Dani’s hand, wants to trace her face with her fingertips, wants to forget her stupid rules and kiss her. </p><p>(Plus, there’s this delicate sense of foreboding just hanging in the house. Every room at Bly Manor is drenched in it. Jamie wonders if she should stay anyway, but decides against it. If she does, she will do something stupid, and there’s no way she’s risking playing around with Dani’s feelings like that.) </p><p>“Goodnight,” she says, instead, the words hanging in the air between them.<em> I don’t want to go. Ask me to stay one more time. Just one more time, and I will. I’ll never leave </em>. </p><p>“Goodnight,” Dani replies.  </p><p>The night has just begun. </p><p>***** </p><p>Jamie’s running long before she even knows what’s wrong.  </p><p>Dani’s saying something that sounds like <em>itsusitsusitsusitsus </em>over and over again, and she knows she should worry about what  of it means, but now that both Dani and Flora are in her arms, all she can do is tip her forehead against Dani’s and hold them as tight as she possibly can. <em>You’re here, you’re okay</em>, she says in response to Dani saying <em>It’s you It’s me </em><em>It’s us</em>, not knowing which one of them sound more frantic. <em>Dani, Dani, Dani</em>, she says, the water on Dani’s face masking their panicked tears. </p><p><em> You’re here. You’re okay </em>. </p><p>(<em>I've got you. I’m never letting go </em>) </p><p>And then they’re torn apart again, Jamie with Owen, and Dani back up to the house to take care of the children. She finds herself holding on a bit longer to Dani’s hand when they’re separating, trying her best not to ask her to come with her. She knows it’s selfish, but unless her greedy eyes see Dani safe and sound in front of her, she’ll have trouble believing they’re alright. </p><p>“I’ll meet you back at the house,” Dani says, a hand on Jamie’s cheek, eyes glancing once at Owen, who’s barely holding himself together. </p><p>“Dani.” </p><p>“I know,” she says. “I’ll be alright.” </p><p>“Sure?” Jamie asks, and feels like a little kid in need of constant reassurance. <em>Do you promise you’ll still be here? Do you promise you’ll be okay? </em> </p><p>Dani nods. </p><p>***** </p><p>It’s a long, long time after that goodbye that they get to be alone. </p><p>In all honesty, it’s probably hours, but it feels like eons. Making sure Owen eats, that Hannah’s body is laid to rest, and there is no evidence of the horror left behind is a long and arduous task, and Jamie does it all, completely numb. It’s been a long time since she’s cooked for anyone but herself, but she whips them up something, just so they can all go to sleep. </p><p>The door to Dani’s room is closed. Jamie stands there for an embarrassingly long time. Dani could be asleep. She could be resting. She could want to be alone. </p><p>There’s another part of her that thinks – Dani could be panicking. She could be huddling on the floor, trying, and failing to gather her breath. </p><p>Jamie takes a deep breath, then another, then another until she realizes she’s this close to panic herself. There’s an awful rope making its way up her insides, tightening around her chest, contracting until she can hear her heartbeat in her ears. Her hands can’t, won’t stop shaking, her legs feel like they’ll give way any second. She blinks furiously, trying to regain some feeling, trying to make sense of whatever it is that’s turning her lightheaded. </p><p><em> Dani</em>, she thinks. <em>I need to know Dani’s okay</em><em>.  </em>And then she knocks. </p><p>(Or more accurately, her hand falls upon the door like a dying man’s last wish.) </p><p>Dani opens the door immediately, which would be something she should ideally think about except seeing her drives all thought out of her head. </p><p>“Jamie!” Dani’s face is twisted in concern. “Jamie, what’s wrong?” </p><p>Jamie breathes, and falls into her arms. </p><p>***** </p><p>Holding Dani nudges the air back into her lungs. </p><p>There’s nothing she’s ever felt like it. Dani in her arms is both ecstasy and relief. Holding the girl she loves is a drug all its own. It’s intoxicating. Addictive. She isn’t sure she can ever let go. She isn’t sure she ever wants to. </p><p>And there’s a part of her that dimly registers the material feel of everything around her, the soft fabric on Dani’s back, the way her hair smells (like fruit, like berries, like what she imagines heaven to be like), the sensation of Dani’s own hands around her shoulders. <em>Dani</em>, she says, through a shuddering sob, as her hands move on her back, making sure she’s okay. <em>Dani</em>, she says, as she presses kiss after kiss onto her shoulder, her neck, her hair. <em>Dani, Dani, Dani. </em> </p><p><em> “ </em>Jamie,” Dani draws back, after a long time, frowning at her. Jamie thinks, like she’s in a fog, that she could listen to her talk forever. “Baby, what’s wrong?” </p><p>“What — what are you—” </p><p>“You’ve been saying you’re sorry for the past minute.” </p><p>“I,” she flounders. “It’s probably because I am.” </p><p>“Why?” </p><p>She draws back, the scoff escaping before she can help it. “Why? Because I fucking left! I should’ve been here! You asked me to stay. I could feel something was wrong, and I fucking should’ve—” </p><p>“—Jamie. Stop.” </p><p>“I’m so sorry.” </p><p>“It wasn’t your fault,” Dani tells her, pulling her back in even as Jamie shakes her head. “No. No. You listen, okay? You didn’t know what was gonna happen. Neither did I. I mean, who would’ve fucking guessed—” </p><p>“It’s not just that,” Jamie admits. “Everything I did. Everything, even with us and I was so stupid—” </p><p>Dani puts a finger on her lips, then very quickly rises on her tiptoes to press a kiss to her forehead. It shuts her up nicely. </p><p>“It doesn’t matter now.” </p><p>“It does. I—” </p><p>“I know, darling,” Dani reassures her, her hands now on either side of her face, thumbs wiping away tears Jamie hadn’t even known existed. </p><p>“I tried to stay away, you know?” </p><p>“I know you did,” Dani just looks fond.   </p><p>“Dani,” Jamie says her name like it’s a benediction. It feels purer than one. “I don’t want to stay away anymore.” </p><p>“I think we’re pretty shit at staying away from each other, to be very honest,” Dani’s smile is wry, and makes Jamie’s stomach fall, and settle softly, somewhere near her toes. “You wanna stay today? And tonight?” </p><p><em> Ask me to stay forever, and I will </em>.  </p><p>(Here’s one final thing Jamie stumbles across when she finally stops running from love: here is all the pain in the world wrapped up in the possibility of one person, all your broken parts, pieced together handed over to them in the hope that somehow, by some miracle, they won’t drop it. Jamie doesn’t care, as long as she gets to spend all of it on Dani, consequences be damned)  </p><p>“One day at a time,” she says, instead, and kisses Dani. All of her plans are up in the air. She kind of doesn’t give a damn.  </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>  </p><p>  </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This was based off an ask that went -<br/>Can you do a prompt where everything turned out fine and they are still working at bly manor and Flora has a nightmare one night and runs to dani's room where she and Jamie are sleeping? Parent Jamie and Dani are super cute.</p><p>No ghosts in this one, and Hannah's alive and awesome as always</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The part Jamie is super mad about, is that if Peter Fucking Quint hadn’t existed, she would never have realized she was in love with Dani. </p><p>It is an irrational sort of exasperation, she knows, one that doesn’t even come halfway up the massive totem pole of problems that the man caused and in theory there are a lot more things she should have been mad at him about, she knows, but this, this tiny fact irks her most. She knows she should be madder about the fact that he was stalking them all at Bly Manor, that in his misguided belief that they, rather than he himself, had caused Rebecca to kill herself, he had attacked Hannah, and Dani and nearly kidnapped Flora but. Well.  </p><p>(Guess it is easier to be furious about irrelevant things. Jamie supposes if she gives an of the above things more than five minutes of thought, she really will start boiling over with uncontrollable rage like some sort of demented teakettle.) </p><p>It is certainly easier to loathe the fact that Peter Fucking Quint will now forever be a part of their love story, one that she might quite possibly be telling her children at some point. </p><p>(A long, long time into the future, she will be telling this to Dani as they sit in their apartment, eating pancakes together. </p><p>“Children?” Dani will ask her, one eyebrow raised, lips pressed together to keep from laughing. “I don’t remember agreeing to having children with you.” </p><p>“Who else are you gonna have them with? Edna from next door?” </p><p>“Edna’s already got a husband.” </p><p>“Oh, that’s what’s stopping you?” </p><p>Dani will roll her eyes, hard and Jamie will note that it is not exactly a denial) </p><p>***** </p><p>Things have barely settled down at Bly Manor after what they’ve collectively dubbed as “The Peter Incident”, when Owen proposes a sleepover. </p><p>Everyone knows why that is. He hasn’t been able to let Hannah out of his sight for more than a couple of hours ever since she was attacked by that rat bastard. Neither has Miles. The poor kid is so wrapped up in all sorts of guilt and anger (the latter directed at Peter) that he’s been trying to make up for it by helping Hannah when she’s cleaning. They’ve tried to talk to him, but in his very young head, once he gets an idea, it’s almost impossible to talk him out of it. </p><p>And so Jamie finds herself lounging on the couch, playing cards with him, Owen and Hannah while Dani’s gone to the kitchen to get them another helping of the giant chocolate cake that Owen had baked earlier in the afternoon. Flora’s already asleep on the giant rug in front of the fire, having tuckered herself out by making them all chase her around the hall. </p><p>“You’re cheating,” Miles says, eyes narrowed. </p><p>“I most certainly am not!” Owen replies, indignantly. “I’m Owen.” </p><p>Jamie groans, and immediately gets shushed by Hannah. </p><p>“Control this man, please,” Jamie begs. At this rate she’s going to end up forfeiting by chucking all her cards at him and that would not be optimal to her ‘Impress Dani by being really cool at cards’ strategy. </p><p>Hannah just smiles fondly. </p><p>“You two are the worst,” Jamie grumbles. “Completely absorbed in each other.” </p><p>Of course, the statement is completely devoid of any sting because that’s the moment Dani walks back in again, arms delicately handling four plates loaded with cake, and Jamie loses focus. </p><p>(Okay, so sue her for not caring about a stupid card game when her girlfriend was walking. Or breathing. Or simply existing. Everything Dani does is a glory to behold.) </p><p>She’s wearing Jamie’s bomber jacket, a jacket that is entirely too huge for her delicate frame. The sleeves have been bunched up close to her elbows, so they don’t cover her hands and the end of the jacket falls somewhere approximately mid-thigh, and Jamie is so floored by her that she forgets how to breath. The air freezes in her lungs, a product of the strange things her stomach seems to be doing inside; the blood rushing through her veins speeds up in response to the overtime beating of the very smitten organ inside her chest, and it would not be an overstatement to say that Jamie disintegrates into an enamored puddle in her seat. </p><p>“Gross,” Miles whispers, and the spell’s broken. </p><p>Owen and Hannah laugh quietly in the background, but Jamie can’t see past Dani, can’t hear anything besides the gentle ‘<em>Hi baby</em>’ that is whispered in her ear as the girl of her dreams settles in next to her. </p><p>The game continues. </p><p>“I don’t even know why we’re even playing,” Owen says, a few rounds later. “I mean, Jamie’s probably going to win anyways.” </p><p>“What? Why?” </p><p>“I mean, I’m sure you have a spade!” </p><p>There is a lot of staring. </p><p>“Because,” his shoulders are already shaking in laughter, “she’s a gardener!” </p><p>Hannah sighs. </p><p>“Get it?” </p><p>Dani’s the one who ends up grabbing all of Jamie’s card and throwing it at him in the end. The idiot is still laughing. </p><p>***** </p><p>Jamie watches Dani follow a trail of chaos all the way up to her room from Miles and Flora’s, picking up all sorts of things lying around. She sits, cross-legged on the bed, wrapped up in the blankets, and smiles brightly every time Dani looks up at her. </p><p>“You could help, you know?” </p><p>“I’m sorry, I’m just the gardener,” she replies, cheekily. “I’m just gonna sit here, all warm and bundled up and watch you do the child-rearing blah.” </p><p>Dani sticks her tongue out. “I’m all warm and bundled up too. And just because of that bit of cheekiness, your jacket is now mine. You’re not getting it back.” </p><p><em> I don’t want it back</em>, she thinks, feeling very much like a crumpled-up piece of paper at the precious sight of her girlfriend in her clothes. </p><p>“Only if you pay me in kisses for it,” she tells Dani, solemnly. </p><p>Dani raises an eyebrow, advances, very, very slowly until she’s right up to the edge of the bed, pushes at her shoulders, until Jamie’s lying down. And then in a flash, she’s hovering over Jamie, so close that all she can see is the intense, bright blue of her eyes, all she can feel is the comforting weight of Dani on her, and the steady in and out of her breath hitting somewhere on her neck. </p><p>Jamie shivers. “Oh,” she says, because her mouth is apparently only capable of forming single syllables in the moment. </p><p>“Tell me, Jamie,” Dani asks, very quietly, the small puffs of her breathing making her feel very dismantled, “where, exactly, do you want me to kiss you?” </p><p>(If anyone asks, no, Jamie does not pass out for almost a minute. Nope. No sir. That is definitely not a thing that happens) </p><p>*****  </p><p>Jamie is dreaming of flying through the village with steel wings, so it’s a surprise when all the people start hurling stones at her. </p><p>It’s the uneven tap-tap of the pellets hitting her wings that wakes her up, and even in through the groggy haze of consciousness, she realizes the sound, hesitant as it is, is actually coming from the direction of the door.  </p><p>Disentangling from Dani is a task. An arduous one at that, mostly due to the fact that she’s so warm that Jamie kind of never wants to leave. Also because her girlfriend slept like a koala, completely wrapped around her. Her leg was resting on Jamie’s thighs, and she had an arm thrown over her stomach. When Jamie finally manages to get out from under her, she makes a noise in her sleep that has no business squeezing at Jamie’s heart the way that it does. </p><p>She tiptoes to the door, opens it very quietly, and then immediately drops onto her knees, hands on the shoulders of a very small-looking Flora. </p><p>“What,” she asks, frantically checking for she doesn’t know what. “What happened? Are you hurt? Is Miles okay?” </p><p>Flora blinks up at her. “I had a dream.” </p><p>Jamie’s hands still and come to rest on Flora’s shoulders. “Uh huh.” </p><p>“A scary dream,” Flora elaborates. </p><p><em> Oh </em><em>thank God</em>, she thinks, and on the heels of that, <em>Fuck Peter Fucking Quint </em>. She gently pulls the door close behind her and picks up Flora in one fluid motion, carrying her towards her room. </p><p>“What was the dream about?” she asks, once, she’s deposited Flora onto her bed, and complied with her request to let her hold one of the dolls. </p><p>“Peter,” Flora says, her eyes wide and serious. </p><p>(From the bottom of her heart, fuck Peter Fucking Quint) </p><p>“Peter isn’t here, though,” she says, getting up from the bed and making a huge show of bending down to check under the mattress. She walks over to the closet, and pulls it open with a flourish, turning her head in an exaggerated motion from side to side to scan it. “See? Nothing.” </p><p>“Behind the dollhouse,” Flora points. </p><p>“If he were behind the dollhouse, your dolls could easily beat him up,” Jamie tells her, and Flora giggles. She checks, anyways. </p><p>“Jamie, I’m awfully sorry I woke you up,” Flora says once she’s next to the bed again, and Jamie feels an invisible hand nudge something into place around her chest at the look on her face. </p><p>“Well, I’m not sorry you woke me up, so don’t worry about it, okay?” </p><p>Flora smiles. </p><p>***** </p><p>When she walks out of Flora’s room, she nearly get another heart attack at the sight of Dani standing, motionless, just behind the door. </p><p>“Jesus fucking—” she gasps, hand on her chest. “What is with the members of this place trying to scare the fuck out of me?” </p><p>“You’re a giant baby,” Dani says, already falling into step beside her, hand instinctually coming up to wrap around Jamie’s waist. “And I thought I was supposed to be the child-rearing expert, huh?” </p><p><em> This is Flora</em>, she thinks. <em>She’s grown up in front of me. I’ve watched them shoot up like my roses. I’ve loved th</em><em>ose buggers </em><em>a thousand times more than</em><em> any flower I’ve ever raised </em>.  </p><p>“You’re an eavesdropper,” Jamie retorts, instead. </p><p>“And you’re a leavesdropper,” Dani announces, and immediately starts giggling. “Because you trim the plants.” </p><p>Jamie sighs. </p><p>***** </p><p>They stand by the window in the middle of the night, looking out over Bly Manor grounds. Jamie has dragged the blanket out of the bed, and wrapped it around them, as she rests her chin on Dani’s shoulder from behind. </p><p>“Has Owen worked up the courage to kiss Hannah yet?” Dani asks, as they watch them crashed on top of each other next to the fire burning near the lake. </p><p>Jamie chuckles. “I don’t think so.” </p><p>“What a loser.” </p><p>“Oh, I’m sorry,” she deadpans, pressing a quick kiss to Dani’s red cheeks. “Some people like taking it slow. Unlike others who propose sleeping together on the first date.” </p><p>Dani tips her head back, looks at her, her eyes bright and full of laughter. “You didn’t sound like you minded very much. In fact, if I remember well, you sounded a lot like—” </p><p>Jamie holds her palm over Dani’s mouth. “Shut up,” she says, blushing. </p><p>Dani maneuvers until they’re facing each other, presses her forehead to Jamie’s. “No regrets?” she asks, and the question is casual, but her eyebrows are drawn together. </p><p>Jamie smoothens her brow. “None.” </p><p>Dani kisses her. “Same. Every shitty thing Peter did to us, I’m — I’m still okay with it in some weird way because it led me to you.” </p><p>The girl of her dreams stands in her arms in the middle of the night, sleepy and earnest, and Jamie feels her world tilting for a minute. It settles on a new axis; the air shifts to make space for all the extra tenderness she guesses is probably pouring out of her right now; and Jamie realizes her world will never be the same again. </p><p>(There’s something finally prettier than the moon in her universe) </p><p>She opens her mouth, almost says three words. </p><p>“What?” Dani asks. </p><p>Jamie shakes her head.<em> Too soon. </em> </p><p>“Let’s go to bed,” she says, instead, and things are as close to perfect as they could possibly be. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is based on another prompt that went -<br/>Alright, since Jamie hasn't gotten good sleep from you in awhile and I love the universe of your one shots AND i see you're open for prompts, might I request, if the muse likes, some sort of Jamie comfort fic? Like maybe she's sick and isnt used to being taken care of or is having a really bad day etc.</p><p>Hope you guys like it :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>An offhand comment courtesy of Owen Sharma wasn’t how Dani wanted to find out she was probably being clingy, mostly because it was extremely hypocritical of a man who spent most of his time following the housekeeper around a huge manor to say that to her. However, now that it was out there— </p><p>“You think I’m being clingy?” she asks, her doubts slowly taking shape into a definite worry she would fret over, late at night. </p><p>Owen raises his head from where it’s resting on Hannah’s lap. “I didn’t say you were being clingy.” </p><p>“You said I was panicking too much over not having seen Jamie for just a day!” </p><p>“Dani, darling,” Hannah says, her voice soft and soothing, the exact same way one would address a grumpy pet bird or nearabout, “you’re not being clingy. Just overthinking as usual.” </p><p><em> And how does one </em><em>not </em><em>do that,  </em>she thinks but takes a swig out of the abysmal cup of coffee she’d made herself instead of articulating it. You kiss the boy who’s supposed to be the great love of your life, but it doesn’t make you feel all the things you’re supposed to feel; what do you do? You stay up at night agonizing the way the girl wearing the nose ring at the shopping arcade turned to look at you, the way her eyes seemed to be telling a story you weren’t brave enough to hear yet; what do you do? The man you were supposed to marry dies and you are haunted by the ghost of him hiding in every mirror you look in; what do you do? You meet a girl who is all the prettiness of the moon, all the light of the stars, wrapped up in one person and somehow, she’s stupid enough to love you back; what do you do? </p><p>“Think, Dani,” Owen says. “The girl is a goner for you. She sent a letter because she couldn’t make it to the house for a couple of days. Stop worrying.” </p><p>(<em>My darling Dani</em>, the letter had started. The middle read <em>I’m sorry I won’t be at the house for a couple of days, there’s just some </em> ; the end read <em>I miss </em><em>you, </em><em>I miss your lips, </em><em>I miss the way you feel in my arms, I miss the sunlight that you carry </em><em>at </em><em>the back of your neck, </em><em>I cannot wait to see you again </em>. </p><p><em> Yours, eternally </em> </p><p><em> Jamie </em>) </p><p>Dani nods. </p><p>“Is that a ‘Yes, Owen, you’re right and I will indeed stop worrying’ nod, or a ‘I’ll agree to get you to shut up’ nod?” </p><p>“Um,” she tells him. “A little bit of both?” </p><p>Hannah and Owen sigh in unison. </p><p>***** </p><p>Dani tells herself she’s not being clingy, the next day, as she sits in her bed, holding the receiver of the telephone to her ear. She’s not. It’s just that today Owen had looked shifty when she’d asked him if he’d run into Jamie up at the village, and considering how bad a liar the man was, yeah, she was right to be concerned.  </p><p>(Plus, it’s been two days. Two days of not seeing Jamie’s face, or hearing her voice, or feeling her hands entangled with her own. </p><p>She wasn’t prepared for this. She’d never felt this level of intensity with Eddie. Never felt the urgency to be around him this much or stay up to talk to him the entire night. This — being with Jamie — was exciting, and thrilling and unprecedented, and honestly, she seemed to be spending most of her time walking around and feeling dazed with just how much she felt.) </p><p>The phone rings a long time. Long enough for her to wonder if she should just hang up. It was ten in the night, after all. Jamie could’ve fallen asleep. She could be outside. She could be sitting in the couch, just feeling sick of her clingy girlfriend and vehemently hating the— </p><p>Okay. Stop. </p><p>(<em>You are not going there </em> , Dani thinks, furiously. <em>We </em> , and here she imagines herself pointing a stern finger at the Dani in her head, <em>are not going there, you hear me </em>?) </p><p>Rewind. </p><p>Jamie could be busy. She could’ve— </p><p>“’ello?” </p><p>“Ja — Jamie?” she asks, because the voice on the other end sounds like it’s been put through a meat grinder and then fed to a hound. But it’s Jamie. She knows that. Only Jamie’s voice can make that thing inside her chest jump the loop-de-loop and end with a cheer. “Are you okay?” </p><p>There’s a <em>thud  </em>on the other end, a <em>thud  </em>that sounds to Dani like someone’s just dropped the receiver in shock, and it makes her smile. </p><p>“Dani?” </p><p>“Hi, there,” she says, her palms feeling sweaty. Nobody said having a girlfriend was going to require this much fortitude. “I — I hadn’t seen you in a while and—” </p><p>“No, I’m,” Jamie says, hurriedly, “I’m glad you called. It’s, uh, it’s good to hear your voice.” </p><p>Dani closes her eyes, covers her face with her other hand. She is lucky nobody’s around right now. God only knows the number of jokes Miles would’ve cracked if he’d gotten a glimpse of her like this, red as a tomato, smiling cheek to cheek. </p><p>“It is?” </p><p>“Yeah.” There’s a sound again, and then comes distant coughing. Dani imagines her standing near the phone, hand against the wall, head tilted to one side. The mental image makes her ache somewhere inside. “Really, really good.” </p><p>“You’re sick.” </p><p>“Wha — that’s crazy. I’m not — I’m not sick. You’re sick.” </p><p>Dani laughs. “Jamie. Baby. You’re sick.” </p><p>“You called me baby,” Jamie sing-songs, and it sounds adorable in her hoarse voice. </p><p>“Idiot,” Dani tells her. “Why didn’t you tell Owen when you sent the letter?” </p><p>There’s silence on the other end. </p><p>“Oh.” </p><p>More silence. </p><p>“Why did he not—” </p><p>“—okay, wait, please don’t be mad at him. I made him promise he wouldn’t tell you.” </p><p>“And why would you do that?” </p><p>Jamie groans. “Because it’s not a big deal. I’m alright. Totally fine. Totally chill.” </p><p>“Uh huh, okay,” Dani says. “What’d you have for dinner then?” </p><p>Jamie falls silent again. </p><p>“Jamie?” Dani prompts, after two whole minutes of crickets chirping on the phone. </p><p>“Um, a cracker?” </p><p>Dani sighs, tells Jamie she’s in grave, grave trouble, and then hangs up. </p><p>Owen takes one look at her, and grudgingly takes the car keys out of his pocket. </p><p>***** </p><p>Objectively, Jamie looks like death dressed up in layers and fluffy slippers. Looks like her hair hasn’t seen a comb in two days, like her nose could masquerade as a police siren, and her back definitely, definitely has seen better days. </p><p>On the other hand, Dani’s looking at her through the hearts that have formed over her eyes, so this is what she sees: the woman she loves, the most beautiful woman in the world, completely at home. Her hair has the same curl that usually tickles Dani’s nose when she buries her face in it; her lips are turned up in the smile Dani’s long come to realize only comes out when they’re together; and her eyes, though red, are somehow still sparkling when they’re looking right at her. </p><p>Dani lets out a deep breath she’s been holding for a while. The yearning passes. The relief permeates through her veins, painting her insides with peace. </p><p>(Dani’s so in love she doesn’t know what to do with herself) </p><p>She tries her very best to sound stern. “Why are you like this?” </p><p>“Counter question, Poppins,” Jamie replies, leaning against the doorjamb, and whoa, she sounds worse than on the phone. “Why do you like this?” </p><p>Dani rolls her eyes, steps forward, arms raised to hug her and— </p><p>Jamie holds her by the shoulders, stops her. Dani looks down, suddenly unsure again. It was one thing to emergency drive to your girlfriend’s place at night because she was a self-sabotaging dumbass who had no idea how to take care of herself; entirely another thing to expect her to want you there.  </p><p>“I’m sor—” </p><p>“No!” Jamie tells her, shaking her head wildly and then groaning. “I just — I’m a hotbed of germs right now, Dani. I’d really rather I didn’t infect you too.” </p><p>“Oh.” </p><p>“Yeah,” Jamie continues. “Snot factory. Ultra gross.” </p><p>“I don’t mind if you don’t,” Dani tries, because she really, really wants to hug her girlfriend, germs be damned. </p><p>Jamie groans again. “How am I supposed to say no if you give me those eyes?” </p><p>A minute later, clutched tightly in Jamie’s arms, Dani counts it as a victory. </p><p>***** </p><p>Dani sets to work almost immediately. </p><p>“It’s not that bad,” Jamie explains defensively, when Dani stands at the entrance to the drawing room, just staring at the mess in horror. There’s a bundle of clothes on a chair, half-empty packets and wrappers strewn around the television, and to her great amusement, Jamie’s bra hanging from one of the potted plants that stands between the room and the balcony. </p><p>“I’d really like to know your definition of not that bad,” Dani asks, raising her hands to put air-quotes around the last part, “because clearly it differs to mine.” </p><p>Jamie sits on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket and pouts. </p><p>“You threw your bra at it, Jamie,” Dani reprimands her, picking it off the snake plant. “Look at it. It looks embarrassed.” </p><p>“That’s Boulevard,” Jamie tells her. “Boulie for short. And he’s a creep anyway, so you shouldn’t worry.” </p><p>(Of course Jamie named her plants. Dani picks this fact and tucks it away somewhere near her heart, into an envelope she’s long labelled “Jamie”) </p><p>“Why Boulevard?” </p><p>“I like the word,” Jamie shrugs, smiles. “The one behind him is Bourgeois, or Bougie. That there’s Avenue, and Bottle and Ocean. And there’s one at the very end—” </p><p>Dani crouches, thumbs at the bright yellow Dahlia that’s smiling at her. </p><p>“—that one’s Dani.” </p><p>“Huh,” she looks up and grins at Jamie. “Why Dani?” </p><p>“Like I said before,” Jamie tells her, solemnly, “it sounds like the best word to me.”   </p><p>***** </p><p>Dani blows gently on the spoon, then extends it towards Jamie. </p><p>“You really don’t have to do this.” </p><p>“I know I don’t have to,” Dani tells her, patiently. “I want to. I want to take care of you, and feed you chicken noodle soup, and pick your stupid bra off of your plants—” </p><p>“—not where I thought this was going, but okay—” </p><p>Jamie finishes the spoonful, and Dani digs in for another one. </p><p>“Why didn’t you tell me?”  </p><p>“Tell you what?” </p><p>“That you were sick.” </p><p>“Because it really isn’t bad,” Jamie says, offhandedly. She’s looking away, her hands fiddling with an errant string on the blanket, and Dani waits for more. “I just gotta wear it out, I guess. Three days of rest and then back to normal.” </p><p>“Doesn’t look like it’s that easy,” she replies, casually, feeding Jamie another spoonful. </p><p>“I — I’m used to this, okay?” Jamie pauses and takes a deep breath. “I’m used to doing this alone. Been taking care of myself since a long, long time. I don’t wanna—” </p><p>“—yes?” </p><p>“I don’t wanna get used to this. People taking care of me. I mean, you might not be around long and then I’d have to go back to it and that would suck worse than,” Jamie sucks in a deep, trembling breath, and Dani aches, “yeah. So. That, I guess.” </p><p>Dani leans forward, kisses Jamie on the lips, and then on her forehead. Searches for something to say.  </p><p>(Because here’s the thing: she understands exactly where Jamie’s coming from. When you’ve been alone for a long time, you do get used to not depending on people. Part of Jamie sees this vulnerability as a weakness. Part of her sees it potential incoming grief) </p><p>“What if,” she whispers, hesitantly, lips still close to Jamie’s temple, “what if I do stay for a long time?” </p><p>Jamie chokes out a wet laugh. “Is that a challenge or a promise?” </p><p>“It’s whatever you need it to be.”<em> I’ll be whatever you need to be, for however long you need me </em>. </p><p>“What if I want you to stay forever?” </p><p><em> Then you have me forever. “ </em>Only if you let me name a plant after you and eat this entire bowl of noodles,” she says instead. </p><p>Jamie laughs again, and Dani thinks, strangely enough — <em> I’m  </em> <em> gonna </em><em>marry </em><em>her </em><em>one day</em>. It won’t be tomorrow, or a week later, or even six months later, but one day, she will. She knows it as certainly as she knows that there is no way she can convince Jamie to go to sleep after this, until she pouts, as she knows that her girlfriend’s still going to be the biggest self-sabotaging idiot in the world, no matter how many times Dani chastises her.  </p><p>But there will be a moon in the sky, every night, and the stars will continue to spell out Jamie’s name for her and like every other inevitable truth that exists in their lives, Dani will love Jamie forever. </p><p>  </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This one is a mix of two prompts that basically went along the line of wanting to see more of Owen and Hannah teasing Dani and Jaimie and general feels so. Yeah.<br/>Happy reading!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The world’s best boyfriend contest started one Wednesday evening and went on for two weeks, resulting in about five trashcans full of wrapping paper, a completely exasperated au pair, a bemused housekeeper, one disgruntled cat, and a small fire. </p><p>(Don’t ask about the fire, okay? Just — don’t) </p><p>Now why Jamie had been participating in a best boyfriend contest, was frankly beyond Dani’s imagination. She had pondered it, turning it over and over in her head until all the incredulous question marks were just swirling around like balloons, had even asked her girlfriend this and been kissed into distraction until all the question marks had molded themselves into little malleable hearts that beat in time to every movement of Jamie’s lips against her own, but the question remained – Why was Jamie trying to be the best boyfriend when she was, in fact, a girl? </p><p>“A woman,” Jamie informs her, dignified. “Don’t infantilize me, Dani.” </p><p>“I’m sorry,” Dani replies. “Guess I must have been thinking of last night when you asked me to call you baby, like, ten times and then kiss your face all over until you were giggling.” </p><p>“Dani!” Jamie’s voice is muffled from where it’s coming to Dani from three inches of pillow fluff, drawn out so long that she can both hear and feel the embarrassment in those two syllables. “You know that was because you never kiss my face!” </p><p>Dani hums. </p><p>“You should kiss my face more often,” Jamie continues, and now Dani can hear the added pout. It is so cute that it’s an effort not to lean over, pull Jamie up until they’re facing each other, and kiss her until they’re both lightheaded. </p><p>(Nobody said having the most adorable girlfriend in the world would be easy) </p><p>(Nobody has said it, actually. Dani checked. They should’ve. Because it’s true) </p><p>Dani falls sideways until her head is next to the pillow, and consequently, Jamie’s head. She moves closer until her nose is pressing at Jamie’s temple, and presses two quick butterfly kisses high up on her cheek. Jamie whines. </p><p>“What? You told me to kiss you.” </p><p>“Yes, but now I’m embarrassed so I can’t look at you.” </p><p>Dani rolls her eyes, tamps down the urge to just grab at her girlfriend’s beautiful face and turn it towards her. Consent is sexy and all that. Also because she is sure that if Jamie looks at her now, all red and her brows furrowed, and lips curled up in a pout, Dani will pass out from sheer adoration. </p><p>“But I want to look at the winner of the best boyfriend contest in the world.” </p><p>This makes Jamie finally emerge from her self-made cocoon. “I know you’re joking, but it is something that I’m very proud of.” </p><p>“May I remind you that you didn’t actually win? And that you’re a girlfriend.” </p><p>“That’s because Hannah threatened to call Rebecca over and have her recite the terms and conditions documentation for her latest client to both of us,” Jamie tells her. “And also, it’s the principle of the thing.” </p><p>(Dani’s theory on dealing with idiot girlfriends, a gradually growing list states that when your girlfriend is being ridiculous, it is best to just go along with her shenanigans) </p><p>Dani just mhms. </p><p>***** </p><p>The entire thing starts because of Jamie. </p><p>(Oh, Jamie disagrees. But Dani knows, just knows that her sweet, if somewhat idiotic girlfriend, was the trigger that released the stupid bullet out of the gun. It’s not that she herself isn’t partly responsible but then again, try having a girlfriend who can widen her eyes and twirl a strand of her curly hair around her finger and mesmerize you into doing basically anything for her.) </p><p>There they are, sitting in the greenhouse, when they hear Owen and Hannah come strolling in and then Jamie gets that glint in her eye, the one that reads ‘<em>I’m the cutest motherfucker and I will fuck things up simply because chaos intrigues me’</em>. </p><p>(Dani may be paraphrasing a bit) </p><p>The point is, Jamie winks at her, and then immediately gets down on one knee, holds her hand, and says in a most terrible interpretation of Owen’s deep, gruff voice - “Hannah, my love, my absolute darling! Would you do me the honor of giving me company as I go about my every single task in this household? It’s just that I am completely whipped and cannot bear to be away from you for even one second!” </p><p>(Dani thinks it’s a little sanctimonious, since it was only yesterday that Jamie had driven back from the village in the middle of the night because she claimed to have been missing Dani too much, but stays quiet. She is the number one expert on dealing with ridiculous girlfriends, after all) </p><p>Owen rolls his eyes. Hannah just sighs in Dani’s direction. </p><p>“Yeah, yeah,” he drawls. “I love my partner, so sue me.” </p><p>“Ooh, Dani, look who’s being an adult now!” Jamie crows, and Dani would be annoyed if she weren’t completely smitten by her girlfriend’s amusement. “We have girlfriends, Owen here has a partner!” </p><p>“That one’s actually on me,” Hannah says mildly, taking a seat beside them on the bench. “I am too respectable and mature to be someone’s girlfriend.” </p><p>Dani would make fun of the completely besotted look on Owen’s face, if she weren’t sure that she had the same expression plastered on hers most of the time while she was around Jamie. </p><p>“You’re just jealous,” he says. </p><p>“Jealous of what? You don’t see my ravishing girlfriend sitting right here?” </p><p>“Oh, not of that,” Owen waves a hand in the air. “You’re just jealous because I’m a better boyfriend than you are.” </p><p>“Wha — I — how dare you?” </p><p>Dani opens her mouth, then shuts it again. No point. </p><p>He smirks. “You’re only pissed because you know it’s true.” </p><p>Jamie rises to her feet, faces him. “I do not pick out flowers for Dani — every day — in the color of whatever she is wearing just for you to turn around and call me mediocre.” </p><p>“Oh so that’s why you give me flowers every day,” she mumbles under her breath, loud enough for only Hannah to hear and chuckle at. </p><p>“Well,” Owen retorts. “I invent pastries for Hannah. And name them after her!” </p><p>(It’s true. His little bakery down at the village now features specials such as “Hannah”, “Hannah Returns”, “Han-nah Han-yes”, “Hannah Chocolate Banana”, and one notable donut that’s now just referred to by everyone as “Generic pun involving the name Hannah”) </p><p>Seemingly at an impasse, they turn to where Hannah and Dani are sitting, but right before they can say anything, Hannah holds up a hand, says – <em> No </em>, and glides out of the scene, gracefully. </p><p>Dani guesses that’s one way to end a discussion. </p><p>***** </p><p>“Miss Clayton,” Miles asks her, sounding supremely curious as he peers into the window, “Have Owen and Jamie started working out?” </p><p>Distracted, she frowns. “I’m sorry?” </p><p>“It’s just that they’ve been racing around the grounds with something in their hands for the past fifteen minutes now.” </p><p>Dani walks over to the window, picks Flora up so she can stand on the desk to see better. Two figures are indeed running around the grounds, with what looks suspiciously like signboards held in their hands. </p><p>“Miles,” she says. “Do you still have those binoculars your uncle sent over for your birthday?” </p><p>He scampers away and is back in a flash, looking through them. And then he starts laughing. </p><p>“What?” </p><p>He’s still chortling, as he hands it over, unable to speak. “Just — just look.” </p><p>It takes her a while to focus as they’re constantly running. Now magnified, she can see, very clearly the look of sheer exhaustion on both of their faces. Sheer exhaustion mingled with utter obstinacy. And then she directs it a little upwards and what she sees makes her genuinely consider banging her head against the wall until she bleeds. </p><p>Owen’s sign reads –<em> I’m the best boyfriend in the world </em>. </p><p>Jamie’s reads –<em> No, he’s not </em>. </p><p>Dani lowers the contraption and starts thinking of ways to kill Jamie. </p><p>(<em>Baby, you’re killing me!” </em> </p><p><em> “I literally just said I’m not going to kiss you for two days.” </em> </p><p><em> Jamie throws up her hands, repeats - “Baby, you’re killing me!” </em>) </p><p>***** </p><p>“Okay, so here’s an idea, okay?” Jamie says excitedly, as they’re walking in the woods in the moonlight. “Tomorrow, you can talk about how I took you to a candlelight dinner, and we had champagne, and we danced in the moonlight to a very romantic jazz song.” </p><p>“Or,” Dani proposes, index finger in the air, “and this is just an idea but hear me out — you could actually take me to one of these fancy dates and then I wouldn’t have to lie so you can win an imaginary contest that doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things?” </p><p>Jamie pouts. </p><p>Dani bites her lip. </p><p>Jamie pouts harder. </p><p>“I hate you.” </p><p>“No you don’t, Poppins,” Jamie says, wrapping her arms around her from behind, and maneuvering her until she’s facing what looks like a blanket spread out in the clearing, held down by a picnic basket, a portable stereo set and bottle of— </p><p>“Is that—” </p><p>“No,” Jamie cuts in, “that is port wine. That’s what you get when you date the gardener instead of someone way, way more accomplished.” </p><p>Dani turns around, kisses Jamie until light brighter than the moon bursts beneath her eyelids, until the world shrinks to just the two of them — to two women wrapped around, into each other, to the texture of Jamie’s hair between her fingertips, the satin feel of her lips sliding against hers and the sound of her heavy breathing in the night air. Her heart skips in her chest, light as a petal floating in the wind, and she imagines it landing, very gently, in the palm of Jamie’s hand. </p><p>“I couldn’t date anyone more accomplished than the world’s best girlfriend.” </p><p>Jamie’s smile is gradual and the most enchanting thing she has ever seen. </p><p>***** </p><p>“Say what you want, but at least Hannah and I give each other distance and space.” </p><p>“Hey!” Jamie protests. “We have a very healthy relationship. We give each other loads of space.” </p><p>“You’re literally sitting on her lap.” </p><p>“While I could be making out with her,” Jamie says, like that makes it any better. “You’ll find that this is plenty space.” </p><p>Hannah sighs. </p><p>***** </p><p>The gifts are of various sizes, an everyday testament to the lengths people are willing to go to just to prove a point. They slowly take over the house, until one can’t run around a corner for fear of bumping into a large gift-wrapped box waiting to be opened by either of the two women. Flora takes it in stride, calling everyone to wherever she finds a gift lying in stealth. It’s come to a point where Dani isn’t even carefully opening the wrapping paper, like she’s been doing her entire life; she just rips it over and prepares to behold the magic. </p><p>(She will say this, though: all the gifts are things she wants, or needs. Jamie might be ridiculous, but she knows her)  </p><p>All in all, it is with resignation that Dani walks to the front hall when Miles screams about how everyone in the house is out to get his toe. </p><p>Owen stands beside Hannah as she kneels to pick up a tiny, but heavy looking box. </p><p>“Open it—” </p><p>“am opening it—” </p><p>“-quicker!” </p><p>“Owen!” </p><p>She gasps when she opens it, though, and Dani walks forward for a closer look at the beautiful necklace that nestles inside the velvet box. </p><p>“Owen,” Hannah sighs, her fingers hovering over the pendant like she’s afraid of touching it. “You shouldn’t have.” </p><p>He kisses her cheek. “Only the best for you, my love.” </p><p>Dani leaves them looking into each other’s eyes, only for her attention to immediately go to the door, where Jamie’s just walked in, holding a large cardboard box. </p><p>“Oh?” she smiles, arms still juggling the box. “What have we got here?” </p><p>Owen takes a deep breath, shoots the box a suspicious look. “What’s in that?” </p><p>“Oh, this?” Jamie asks, faux casually. “It’s — ah, nothing. Nothing really. Just a little thing for Dani here.” </p><p>Dani thinks <em>Oh dear. </em> </p><p><em> “ </em>You should open it,” he says. </p><p>“Eh,” Jamie replies, and Dani can see she’s trying very, very hard to not laugh out loud. “It’s really—” </p><p>“—open it—” </p><p>“—no, really—” </p><p>“Jamie!” </p><p>Jamie keeps it down, looks at all of them triumphantly. “I mean, alright. If you insist.” </p><p>Dani sits in front of the box and examines it suspiciously. </p><p>“It can hardly punch you in the face, dear,” Hannah says. </p><p>The box isn’t closed tightly, the top flaps just placed on top of each other. She opens them, rises up on her knees to look inside— </p><p>—and then Flora, who’s also been curiously looking, squeals. “It’s a kitten!” </p><p>And so it is. A tiny black thing, it had been snoozing on top of a cushion placed inside the box, and now unceremoniously woken up by noise, looks up at her, and meows indignantly. </p><p>(It would not be an exaggeration to say that Dani falls in love at first sight) </p><p>She picks it (a her, upon closer examination) up from the makeshift bed, and holds her up at eyelevel. “Baby,” she says, “I adore you.” </p><p>“Why, thank you,” she hears Jamie’s voice from behind her somewhere. </p><p>“Pretty sure she was talking to the cat.” </p><p>“Miles, you little shit.” </p><p>She leans in, nuzzles its soft fur for a second, then looks back up at Jamie. “Thank you,” she says. </p><p>Jamie’s eyes are infinitely soft. “Anytime, darling.” </p><p>***** </p><p>“We’ve never seen Jamie like this, you know?” Hannah says one night, out of the blue, as she’s cleaning up after dinner. Dani sits at the dining table, having been expressly forbidden from touching any instrument that might result in her contaminating the food. Owen and Jaime are outside getting drunk by the campfire. She looks up sharply when Hannah starts talking. </p><p>“You mean super competitive?” she asks, dryly, even though she knows what Hannah’s talking about. </p><p>“You know what I mean,” Hannah smiles. “She’s.... smitten. Charmed. Enchanted. Other adjectives I can’t quite think of right now.” </p><p>“I am all of those things,” she gushes, burying her head in her hands like an embarrassed schoolgirl. “I am.... smitten and charmed and enamored and other adjectives that I can’t think of right now.” </p><p>Hannah smiles indulgently when she finally looks at her through the gaps between her fingers.  </p><p>“She’s better with you too,” she continues. “She’s dated before, of course she has but, oh, I don’t know how to say it.” </p><p>Dani rests her face on her palm, listens quietly. </p><p>“She’s not proud of who she’s been,” Hannah continues. “I think — finally, she likes who she is when she’s with you. And it is such a glory to see. She’s—” </p><p>“Content?” </p><p>“Happy.” </p><p>That’s all Dani wants, really. For Jamie to be happy. For however long she can love her, for however long she can take care of her, she wants Jaime to be perfectly, dazzlingly happy. That’s an overwhelming need that rises in her every time she witnesses her girlfriend in a quiet moment, trimming the hedges, watering the lawn or simply just lost in thought — that no matter what happens tomorrow, she wants her to be happy for that one moment in time.  </p><p>(Part of her knows that she keeps focusing on the end because things tend to go wrong around her so often that it’s never been safe to rest and breathe easy, to think <em>Yes, this is it, this is where I </em><em>was supposed to end up</em>. But she wants. She wants to believe, so badly, that this will last forever, that thirty years down the line, she would still be talking to Hannah about how crazy Jamie drives her every day.) </p><p>And she would do anything to make that happen. </p><p>“Is,” she wonders out loud, hesitates a bit, “is this what love is?” </p><p>Hannah passes behind her to pat her head, and Dani doesn’t even need the answer to her own question. </p><p>***** </p><p>She hears them from quite a distance away. </p><p>(Then again, she supposes it is impossible to not hear a man and a woman, both grown, both employed in respectable professions when they’re yelling about how much they love their respective girlfriends at a roaring fire) </p><p>She stops when she almost reaches them, curious to hear what they’ve been talking about. </p><p>“I love her,” she hears Owen announce as he raises his bottle in the air to emphasize the point. </p><p>“I know you do,” Jamie reassures him, equally as loud and passionate. “You love her like I love—” </p><p>“—Dani—” </p><p>“—yes! Dani is her name. The most perfect name in the world.” </p><p>Owen laughs in response. </p><p>“It’s true!” Jamie pokes a finger into his shoulder. “Like her mother’s a bitch but she did one thing right. She gave her daughter the prettiest name in the world.” </p><p>“You just think the name is pretty because you think the daughter is pretty,” Owen informs her. </p><p>“Oh.” </p><p>Jamie falls silent for a while, apparently contemplating the meaning of life, and Dani wants to laugh, but there’s another pressing need to hug her girlfriend that’s stronger. </p><p>“You wanna see something?” Owen asks, after a while of silence, then digs in his pocket when Jaime nods. </p><p>Dani cannot make it out from this far, but the way his hand moves, she does have an inkling of what it is. </p><p>Jamie gasps, nearly dropping her bottle. “When?” </p><p>“I don’t know!” he groans. “I’m — waiting.” </p><p>“My buddy’s getting married!” Jamie shouts, and is immediately shushed by her companion, both of them subsequently dissolving into giggles. “I’m so happy. I’m so — just — so—” </p><p>“Wha — why are you crying!” </p><p>“Because you’re getting married!” Jamie says, and yeah, Dani can hear the tears in her voice. “And because—” </p><p>“What?” </p><p>“—because that makes you the best boyfriend now!” </p><p>Dani releases the longest sigh. </p><p>***** </p><p>“Shush!” Dani warns. “You’ll wake the cat.” </p><p>Jaime blinks wide at her, and nods rapidly. “I don’t wanna wake the cat,” she says, very seriously. And then looks quickly over to where Banana is sleeping by the window and her face melts into what Dani can only describe as sheer devotion. </p><p>“She’s so cute!” </p><p>Dani gently nudges her in the direction of the bed, makes her sit down. </p><p>“You’re so cute!” Jaime says again, now looking right at her. “Almost as cute as the cat.” </p><p>“Thank you,” Dani says, enormously cheered up by this version of her girlfriend. Drunk Jamie is a riot. </p><p>“I mean it!” Jaime allows her shirt to be pulled off her frame and then lets Dani maneuver her into a more comfortable one. “Dani. Dani. Dani. Dan—” </p><p>“Yes, baby?” </p><p>“Dani,” Jaime blinks at her, solemnly. “We should bang.” </p><p>(Even Dani, who’s the self-proclaimed expert in ridiculous girlfriend shenanigans, has no response to this) </p><p>Dani cannot help the laugh that escapes her. “I’m sorry, what?” </p><p>“Bang. We should bang.” </p><p>“Maybe not now.” </p><p>“Yes, now!” </p><p>She pushes Jaime until she’s lying down, and staring up at her.  </p><p>“You should kiss me,” Jaime starts whining again, once her legs are aligned and she’s clearly found more pressing concerns. </p><p>Dani bends over her, kisses her forehead. Then on her closed eyelids, on both her cheeks and plants a final one on her nose. </p><p>“That okay?” </p><p>Jaime nods with her eyes still closed, and lips curled up in the widest smile. Dani brushes some hair off o her forehead, and prepares to get off the bed to change into something comfortable. </p><p>“Wait,” Jaime says, her hand fisted into Dani’s shirt. “Why are you leaving me?” </p><p>The words find their way into Dani’s heart via the hands fisted into her shirt just above her chest, wrap their arms around her heart, and press. Words are strange animals, aren’t they? Hurting and pulling and pushing and twisting until their owners are almost as battered and bruised as they themselves are. Dani searches for the right ones. </p><p>“I’m right here.” </p><p>“Sure?” </p><p>She kicks off her shoes, awkwardly, brings up her arm until she’s holding Jamie. “Yes, sweetheart.” </p><p>A minute later, Jamie will ruin the moment by sleepily declaring that she is, in fact, the winner of the best boyfriend contest. Dani will let it pass. You can’t have everything, after all. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>If you were, hypothetically, of course, to visit a place in England called Bly Manor, you would most likely meet an odd group of people. You would see two children, one an absolute angel, the other a teenage, snarky brat of a boy, who are probably being supervised by a stern, yet extremely capable looking woman. You would probably be shown around the house by the sweetest housekeeper in the world, probably be offered lemon cakes by a tall man who looks at the aforementioned housekeeper with all the stars in his eyes. And maybe, just maybe in the middle of it all, you might glance outside and see a woman standing by herself in the garden. At first you would think she’s just moving casually, maybe dancing on her own; and then you would see that her movement has a pattern. It almost seems as though.... no, it couldn’t be. </p><p>“Is that woman,” you would ask, hesitantly, not wishing to offend these people and some potential strange ritual of theirs, “talking to herself?” </p><p>The housekeeper (Hannah, you think she’s called) glances outside and chuckles. “Oh, that,” she says. “That’s just Jamie. Jaime’s the gardener. She’s just talking to her girlfriend.” </p><p>You would resist the urge to rub at your eyes. “Her.... her girlfriend?” </p><p>“Well, technically Dani hasn’t asked her yet,” the cook cuts in, smiling. “But it’s on the way, I assure you.” </p><p>You would look from the strange, solitary woman, to their frank, open faces, and then back to the solitary woman again, and you would think. </p><p>You would think <em> Why, these people are absolutely fucking bonkers </em>. </p><p>***** </p><p>(They’re really not) </p><p>***** </p><p>The first time Jamie saw the woman, it was from across the grounds, which is why it took her crossing halfway the distance to realize that she was breakdancing. </p><p>Then again, she had also got other things on her mind. Peter Fucking Quint had to go and fall off the parapet while attempting to rob the Wingraves of their old jewelry the night before last, and between helping Hannah communicate with the police, ensuring Owen received an adequate number of head pats every hour to calm him down, and offering Rebecca a listening ear for both murderous rants and angry tears, she had her hands completely full. And that wasn’t even including the kids, although they seemed to be doing fairly alright. Thankfully they had not seen the body. However, that didn’t deter Miles, who was currently going through a bit of a Hannibal phase, from popping up at random intervals to ask her what broken bones looked like, or if the blood had frozen overnight. </p><p>All in all, pretty exhausting. </p><p>Which is why the sight of the children standing in front of a breakdancing woman didn’t register at first. She was pulling out the weeds, sun high in the sky, sweat tracing an uncomfortable path down her back when something made her look up. One double take, and she was scrambling in their direction. </p><p>She reached them, panting, raised her head after her breath was a little more even and looked right at the woman, who was currently doing the robot. “Um,” she started, unsure of where to go from there. “Are — are you quite alright?” </p><p>The woman stopped abruptly, her mouth falling open. “You can see me?” </p><p>Okay, this woman was clearly mental. “Yes?” </p><p>The woman looked even more astounded. “You really can?” she turned to Flora next. “You too?” </p><p>Flora blinked. “Yes, we can.” </p><p>“But that’s impossible! You shouldn’t be able to see me. In fact—” </p><p>“Jaime, darling,” Miles cut in the middle of what seemed to be the beginning of a rapidly delivered monologue. “Could you escort this.... clearly insane lady outside?” </p><p>Jaime<em> thwack </em>-ed the side of his head gently. “Wanna try that again? Nicely?” </p><p>He looked sheepish. <em>Not really a bad kid, that one</em>, she thought . <em> Just annoying </em>. </p><p>“But you really shouldn’t be able to see me. By all calculations, it’s completely—” </p><p>“Well, why not?” Miles asked, now having warmed to the idea of possibly talking to someone who was crazy. </p><p>The woman brightened up. “Well, because,” she said, “this, I guess.” </p><p>And then she snapped her fingers, disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the lake, where she waved at them excitedly. </p><p>Flora was the only one who waved back. Jamie was too busy supporting the weight of a now-collapsed Miles. </p><p>***** </p><p>Jamie thought it was patently unfair that the reaper of souls was just so damn cute. </p><p>(They weren’t supposed to be cute! They were supposed to look gaunt and hollow, and angry and sad, not like sunshine wrapped up in a very human looking package. They weren’t supposed to be walking around with bright, blue, gorgeous eyes, and faces that seemed to have been sculpted by some divine power up there, and a voice that was sweet and soothing enough to put Jamie right to sleep.) </p><p>“It’s amazing how all of you can see me,” the reaper of souls, or Dani, as she had introduced herself, said, looking wide-eyed at all of them. Rebecca and a recently awakened Miles were the only ones who looked actively concerned, standing in the corner. Owen and Hannah were, as ever, polite and pleasant, if a little curious. Flora was already settled in next to Dani, asking her questions a mile a minute. And Jamie was— </p><p>(Very fucking annoyed at how pretty Dani was) </p><p>—completely alright. </p><p>“And you’re here to get Peter?” Owen asked her, with a sideways look in Rebecca’s direction. </p><p>“Oh yes,” Dani replied. “And boy, was that man a pain. Really whiny. Went all <em>Boohoo I can’t be dead, I’m supposed to do so man</em><em>y things, I’m so cool and awesome and</em>. Ugh. Annoying is what he was. I mean, the list says Peter Quint — died while trying to steal from Bly Manor; what am I supposed to do?” </p><p>They all nodded, a little dazed. </p><p>“And then I saw the kids and I was bored and I thought they couldn’t see me anyways so,” she continued, and then looked down, suddenly a little shy. “I really am sorry about the.... you know, breakdancing. I honestly thought nobody could see me.” </p><p>“It’s okay, it was cute,” Jamie found herself saying before she had time to process, and then wanted to stab herself with the fork lying on the table. If that didn’t work, bang her head on the surface until she bled to death. Or— </p><p>“Thank you,” Dani said, equally as quiet. </p><p>Jamie closed her eyes, willed her body to fall dead right then and there. </p><p>(It didn’t work, unfortunately) </p><p>“Would you like to stay for supper?” he heard Owen ask their guest. </p><p>“Supper?” Dani asked. “Wait, is it already that late?” </p><p>Jamie looked up a moment later, when she heard everybody scream and then she opened her eyes to see a stranger standing right near the stove. </p><p>“Viola!” Dani said, alarmed. “I thought I sent a message I was gonna be late.” </p><p>The woman looked very haughty, very angry and (this is something she hated to admit, again, but) very fucking hot. Seriously. What was with these underworld people and ridiculously angelic skin?. Her gaze moved past all of them, came to rest on Dani. </p><p>“I got your message alright,” she announced, blithely. “Just couldn’t figure out why you were still here.” </p><p>Dani chuckled, nervously. “So, funny story, but as it turns out — these people can — uh, see us?” </p><p>Viola tilted her head, regarded her. “Are you sure?” </p><p>“Hello,” Hannah said, ever the gracious host. “Welcome to Bly Manor.” </p><p>Viola looked flabbergasted now, doing a double take to look at all of them more carefully. </p><p>“They can see us?” </p><p>Dani nodded, gingerly. </p><p>“Seriously?” </p><p>Another nod. </p><p>“But that can’t be—” </p><p>“—Viola, I know, but—” </p><p>“—it simply cannot be allowed—” </p><p>“—absolutely not I know what you’re thinki—” </p><p>“—We have to end them!” </p><p>There was another whoosh right next to Jamie’s ear, and she took her time, turning around, only to see another pissed-off, hot woman, standing in the kitchen, her arms crossed. </p><p>“I didn’t even say kill!” Viola protested. </p><p>“You implied it!” </p><p>Their standoff was interrupted by a violent, abrupt thud. It seemed Miles had fainted again. </p><p>***** </p><p>Jamie walked into the greenhouse, paused and smiled. </p><p>“You cannot surprise me,” she said, aloud. </p><p>There was movement behind her, and then Dani walked into view. </p><p>“How do you always know I’m here?” </p><p>Jamie stayed quiet. There wasn’t a good, less-embarrassing way to say <em>The </em> <em>  air dances when you’re around</em>, or <em>I can feel your presence in the back of my neck</em><em>, in the way my heart starts skipping steps on whatever treadmill it </em><em>is </em><em>currently running on </em> <em> .  </em> </p><p>“Let me keep my secrets,” she answered. </p><p>Dani stayed beside her, as she started on the rose plants, a safe distance away, safe enough for Jamie to not feel like she would combust. “I got you something.” </p><p>“You’ve already given me so many things,” Jamie told her, hand rubbing at the back of her neck. It was true. Every time Dani had dropped in the past month, she’d brought little trinkets from her travels all over the world.  </p><p>(Travels was an excellent way of describing the action of harvesting the grumpy souls of the dead) </p><p>One time there had been crepes from Paris, courtesy the tourist guide who passed of a heart attack in a café. Another time it was one of Cerberus’ treats, because Jamie was eternally curious as to what hell dogs actually ate. The bone had been framed and now lay on one of her shelves back at home. One day, she had gotten macarons that Owen had scarfed down before Dani could get around to telling him they were filled with the eternal cries of the dead. </p><p>(He’d spent the entire day walking around convinced he was going to die. The doctor said it was indigestion) </p><p>She opened the neatly wrapped box and picked up the pomegranate. Turned it around in her hand, examined it. </p><p>“Aren’t these supposed to tie me down to the Underworld forever?” she asked, only half-serious. </p><p>“Gosh, no,” Dani said, nervously chuckling. “These are not that kind.” </p><p>Jamie waited. </p><p>“Um, so these,” Dani went on, “these seeds are kind of multi-purpose things? So basically you can eat them, but these seeds, when planted, they can grow any plant in the world. Doesn’t matter what soil they’re on. I mean, I heard you mention that flower you’ve always wanted to grow, but England doesn’t have the climate suited to it and — well. This would work.” </p><p>If Jamie could speak, this is what she would have said:<em> I don’t know how to thank you. I don’t know  </em> <em> why you’re here, why you give me so much of your precious time, time that you could be walking around the whole world in</em><em>. I don’t know  </em> <em> what to do with myself when I’m around me, how to breathe, how to look, and I’m an utter godforsaken mess, but I’m eternally grateful you barged into our lives a while ago.</em><em> I don’t know what I was doing before you came. I hope you never leave. </em> </p><p>She would have said <em>I know you collect souls, but there’s at least one heart lying in that bag of yours, and there’s a good chance it’s mine </em>. </p><p>As it is, all she did was grab onto Dani’s hand, and squeeze. </p><p>***** </p><p>“You have got to stop doing that!” Owen gasped, hand on his heart. </p><p>Dani shrugged from on where she was now perched on top of the table, sitting directly in front of an open-mouthed Miles. “Hannah always knows when I’m here.” </p><p>“That’s because I really do have eyes everywhere,” Hannah turned around, smiled brightly at Dani. “Spaghetti?” </p><p>“I’ve been asking you for the past five minutes!” Jamie said, indignantly. </p><p>“Well, now we know who’s her favorite,” Dani shoots an infuriatingly smug grin in her direction, and pats the top of her head and— </p><p>Jamie would feel annoyed if her heart wasn’t racing and there wasn’t a blush fighting to make its way up her cheeks. This love thing was annoying. </p><p>(Not that it was love, of course. Certainly not) </p><p>“As charming as that sounds, Hannah darling,” Dani continued, “I actually came for a purpose.” </p><p>“Is it to set murderers on us again?” </p><p>“No, Miles,” Dani replied, patiently. “Plus, Viola and Perdita wouldn’t really have.... killed you. Maimed you, at best.” </p><p>Rebecca shuddered delicately on the other side of the table. </p><p>“Remember when you said you’d had a bit of a dinosaur phase when you were a kid?” Dani directed this towards Jamie. </p><p>“... yes?” </p><p>“Well,” Dani snapped her fingers, and to their extreme horror, a parrot sized creature appeared next to her, “meet Battery!” </p><p>“—completely house trained,” she heard Dani explaining to Hannah, while she extended a hand towards (what was he called? Right) Battery. He opened his mouth, stepped closer, licked the entire length of her finger with a long, slimy tongue, and then immediately nipped at her nail. </p><p>(Jamie may or may not be helplessly charmed) </p><p>Before she could say anything, however, Miles fell from his chair onto the kitchen floor. </p><p>Rebecca sighed, got up from her chair. “You guys know there’s going to be permanent brain damage if he keeps doing that.” </p><p>***** </p><p>About three things went wrong the day Jamie decided she was finally going to tell Dani she was in love with her. </p><p>The first thing was that she needed to get drunk, and decided to trust Owen and Hannah to deliver. The second was that Battery wasn’t adequately educated in the intricacies of human weirdness and tended to panic at the first sign of strange behavior. Third, lakes weren’t the most romantic places to confess your love, but apparently nobody had told Jamie this. </p><p>So when she found herself flailing for breath after having somehow made her way to the middle of the lake in a makeshift lifeboat and then having upturned it in the process, she only had herself to blame. </p><p>“What,” Dani started, looking absolutely furious, hair all over the place as she held Jamie up, “the fuck were you doing in the middle of the lake?” </p><p>“Hey!” Jamie sang, because the alcohol was making her feel very sing-song-y, “You shouldn’t be here yet! It’s not time!” </p><p>“Battery panicked and summoned me,” Dani explained. “Are — are you drunk?” </p><p>“No, she’s not!” Hannah called out from where she and Owen had just reached the lake. “We gave her loads of strong bitter soda and convinced her it was watered down whiskey.” </p><p>(Now that she was thinking about it, the whiskey had seemed pretty fizzy for her liking) </p><p>“Oh,” she Jamie, now sobered up. “But I was drowning.” </p><p>“Yeah, in about five feet of water.” </p><p>Well, that was anticlimactic. </p><p>***** </p><p>At midnight, she sat by the lake, covered in a warm, fuzzy blanket Dani had draped all over her. Dani sat beside her, Battery on her lap, smiling at her from time to time. </p><p>“You’re such an idiot,” she said, out of nowhere, and Jamie didn’t have the heart to disagree. “What am I even going to do with you?” </p><p>“You could,” Jamie started, ponderously, like she hadn’t spent three months of her life thinking this over, like her heart wasn’t an over-excited ping-pong ball in her chest right now, “you could always take me out on a date, you know?” </p><p>“Really?” Dani murmured. “Well, that’s a novel idea.” </p><p>“Isn’t it?” </p><p>“Depends. Would you be okay dating someone who is almost constantly grumpy from carrying around beleaguered souls all day?”  </p><p>Jamie pretended to think. “I think so, yes.” </p><p>“Someone who regularly hangs out with a murder-friendly woman?” </p><p>“.... maybe?” </p><p>“How about someone who may have to keep going away for lengths of time?” </p><p>Jamie turned to her. “Would that someone come back to me, though?” </p><p>Dani’s eyes were shiny and hopeful, and she felt her breath get stuck in her throat like a lovesick little fool. “Always,” Dani whispered. </p><p>“Well, then,” Jamie whispered back to her, and then leaned in for the most picture-perfect happy ending of all time. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>   </p><p>  </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There are only two reasons Bly Manor could ever be completely silent - one, that somebody had died, and two, that Owen and Jamie were fighting. Again. </p><p>(It’s sad that there was an equal chance of either of those possibilities occurring) </p><p>She looks up when Dani walks in, and watches her immediately let out a deep breath. Dani raises an eyebrow. </p><p>“He called me a manic pixie dream girl,” she explains. </p><p>Dani goes through an extremely complicated face journey in the span of ten seconds. It’s impressive to watch. </p><p>“Okay, I’ll bite,” she says, despite Hannah frantically shaking her head from where she’s sitting at the table. “He called you a what now?” </p><p>“I didn’t call her a manic pixie dream girl,” Owen clarifies, his mouth twitching in amusement. “I may have just pointed out that her entire life kind of—” </p><p>Jamie glares at him. He side-eyes her. </p><p>“—maybe—” </p><p>Jamie shifts. </p><p>“—Dani, she’s threatening me,” he complains, like the giant baby that he is. </p><p>Dani walks up to her, slings an arm over her shoulders, and Jamie feels herself relax. Two cords start from where she’s being touched — one sneaks its way over her back and through her body, spreading warmth everywhere it goes; the other goes straight to her heart. It’s almost embarrassing how quick her body goes slack and boneless when Dani is around, as though it’s been reduced, simply, to something malleable in Dani’s tender hands. </p><p>“Let him talk, babe,” is whispered into her ear, and well, who is Jamie to argue against someone who happens to own her whole entire heart. </p><p>“I just called her a two-dime rom-com love interest archetype,” Owen finally manages to complete. “Because, and this you may have noticed yourself, her entire world revolves around you! And she’s constantly following you around like a puppy dog! And — and — I was bored!” </p><p>After a full minute of staring, Dani asks him what’s wrong with that, right when Jamie says that she absolutely does not. The silence that follows just sees them staring at each other, one a deer caught in the headlights of an incoming tornado, the other very offended. </p><p>“Oops,” says Owen in the background, the little shit. </p><p>***** </p><p>She knows Dani’s in the greenhouse even before she emerges from under the table. </p><p>That’s a cliché if she’s ever heard one, but the way Dani walks is so distinctive that there’s nothing else in the world like it. Nothing that even comes close to the particular brand of quick click-clack that accompanies her arrival, the way the steps fall like they’re trying to sound more confident than they are, in reality.  </p><p>She can almost see what it looks like up there: her girlfriend, probably walking with a cup of some absolutely horrible, disgusting tasting beverage that Jamie would adore regardless of its flavor. Except there’s a second, softer set of footsteps that follow, keep walking, until she raises her head a bit and sees Flora’s tiny slippers pointed right at her. </p><p>“Jamie,” Flora announces loudly, “I have come here on behalf of Miss. Clayton, to apologize for the misunderstanding caused in the morning.” </p><p>Jamie takes a deep breath so she doesn’t burst out laughing. Damn her girlfriend for using the deadliest weapon available to her. </p><p>“Flora,” she answers to no one in particular, “Could you tell Miss. Clayton that her words made Jamie feel undervalued and taken for granted and that her apology is not accepted.” </p><p>There’s a pause. “Flora,” Dani says, “Could you tell Jamie that Dani knows her words were thoughtless and while a mistake, not entirely inaccurate and—” </p><p>“Flora, could you tell Dani that her apology needs work—” </p><p>“—Flora, could you tell Jamie that she needs to let me explain before she starts grumping again—” </p><p>“I beg your pardon!” Flora declares over their combined complaining. “I’m sorry, Miss Clayton, but I really can’t do this anymore. Could the both of you please, please, talk to each other yourself? </p><p>There’s some whispering back and forth, then footsteps running away. Jamie waits. </p><p>“Are you gonna come out now?” </p><p>“I came out a long time ago.” </p><p>She hears Dani sigh, very loudly, then — “You know what I mean.” </p><p>“I do know what you mean. Maybe I want to stay down here and not see your face anymore. Did you ever think of that?”  </p><p>Dani’s voice turns adoring, and Jamie hates, hates (loves) the way her will bends to it. “But maybe I want to see your face, sweetheart.” </p><p>Jamie sticks her tongue out for an embarrassingly long time before she realizes it probably isn’t visible.  </p><p>“If you don’t come out of there,” Dani says, “I will get underneath it with you. Fair warning.” </p><p>Jamie smiles, waits. </p><p>“Coming in three, two, ow!” </p><p>And with that Jamie is out from under the table in a flash, leaning over Dani and that massive, red looking bump on her forehead. Her hands are on Dani before she can even think, one gently rubbing at the welt, the other on her cheek. </p><p>“Idiot,” she chides, unable to think<em> How bad does it hurt  </em>over and over, “Why can’t you be more careful?” </p><p>“Why should I when I already have the best girlfriend in the world to do that for me?” </p><p>“Dani Clayton, sweet talker extraordinaire,” she says, pretending to swoon. Leans forward, and presses a gentle kiss to the gradually darkening bruise. “Better?” </p><p>Dani’s smile when she nods is so wide that her eyes are almost completely closed. </p><p>***** </p><p>“We don’t do things together.” </p><p>“We do plenty of things together.” </p><p>“Oh, like that time I cut your roses to make my collage and you told me it was ugly?” </p><p>“You cut up my roses to make One Direction fanart!” </p><p>“Don’t pretend like you weren’t dancing to Best Song Ever in the kitchen back when it had just come out!” </p><p>Hands balled up into fists, faces flushed. Jamie and Miles stare at each other for a minute before they simultaneously relax. Jamie rolls her eyes, passes the gloves over to him. </p><p>“You’re the worst,” she says. </p><p>“And you’re a.... wait, what was it Owen had called you? A two-dime rom-com love interest?” </p><p>She blushes, and is glad for the sun high up in the sky. “Didn’t anyone ever teach you eavesdropping is rude?” </p><p>“Oh, I’m sorry, my parents must have skipped that lesson during the time they were still alive.” </p><p>“You can’t pull that card on me, remember? I’m also an orphan with major abandonment issues.” </p><p>Miles shakes his head, continues pulling up the weeds in the garden bed. He’d been supremely unimpressed when she had dragged him out for “A day of fun”, and true to form, was continuing his trend of being completely unhelpful with her mission to make him do an honest day’s work. </p><p>(Also with her mission to prove to the entire household that she could, in fact, do things not involving her girlfriend) </p><p>She tells him to suck it up when he complains about the heat. He does look frazzled, though. There’s sweat dripping off of his forehead, and his hair is weirdly plastered to his head in places. He raises his head, looks longingly at the house and Jamie follows his line of sight until she can just barely make out the outline of people moving in the kitchen. </p><p>She thinks of Dani inside, and feels such a strange wave of longing overcome her that her knees feel weak. It’s only been a whole day since she’s talked properly to her girlfriend, but already the thought of sitting next to her, within touching distance has her considering giving up on this entire “avoiding the love of her life to prove a point to a complete dum-dum" endeavor. </p><p>“What does it feel like?”  </p><p>Jamie drags her eyes away and looks at Miles. He’s looking at her curiously, his palm held over his eyes to shield him from the sun. </p><p>“What, gardening?” she asks in response, even though she knows what he really means. </p><p>He rolls his eyes. “You know what I mean.” </p><p>She thinks it over. “I’m.... not sure. I love her. Just don’t know if I can articulate it well enough for anyone to understand, let alone myself.” </p><p>“But how do you know you love her?” </p><p>“Gosh, does anyone? It’s always a toss-up. It just feels right to me, I guess. I want to know her favorite everything, to consume her favorite everything because there’s a part of her in them. I trust myself to be ugly around her. To be sad, or happy, or whatever. I trust her to still like me if I’m not the best version of myself around her. It’s.... complicated.” </p><p>He nods, not looking like he gets it entirely. “Weird.” </p><p>She reaches out to mess up his hair, laughing when he protests. “Ah, you’re young yet. You’ll get there when you do.” </p><p>He hums. </p><p>“Or — or not!” she scrambles to add. “You might not get there. Which would also be okay. Totally. Okay.” </p><p>He smiles at her. “Hopefully not,” he says, lips twitching. “I’d rather die than become a manic pixie dream girl.” </p><p>She almost regrets the soil she launches at his face. Almost. </p><p>***** </p><p>She sneaks into the chapel towards evening, and nearly scares Hannah out of her wits when she turns around. </p><p>“Goodness, Jamie,” Hannah gasps, hand on her chest, “What are you doing here?” </p><p>“I came.... to pray,” she replies, picking up a random candlestick and flipping it. </p><p>Hannah looks at her in that all-knowing way of hers. “I assure you, that’s definitely not the way to do it, then. And I didn’t know you even believed in a higher power.” </p><p>“The only higher power I believe in is the stupid woman stomping around the grounds,” she says, wistfully, sinking down onto the bench opposite to where Hannah is already seated. Then immediately pinches herself on the wrist. “Damn it, I’ not supposed to be talking about her. Or to her.” </p><p>“Wait,” Hannah says, realization dawning, “Are you avoiding Dani? Is that why you’re here?” </p><p>She throws her arms up before resting her face on the corner of the bench in front of her, feeling very much like a smitten Regency era heroine. “If I’m around her, I won’t be able to resist talking to her. Or touching her. Or just, you know, looking at her like she’s the reason the universe was chucked into existence years and years ago. Trust me, it’s easier to avoid her.” </p><p>“I am going to kill that man.” </p><p>“Eh, it’s not just Owen,” Jamie remarks, in a surprising show of grace. “I’m also afraid I’m being—” </p><p>“—what? Sweet? Romantic? Absolutely swoon-worthy?” </p><p>“Clingy,” she confesses, feeling embarrassed. “What if I am bothering her by wanting to be with her most of my time?” <em>What if I’m the only one who wants to be with her most of my time? What does that mean? Does that mean she doesn’t love me as much? Want me as much </em>? </p><p>Hannah sits and listens patiently. God, Jamie loves her so much. If the concept of best friends existed in her world, this woman would definitely be hers. </p><p>“My ex-husband used to think I was clingy,” she says, after a while of deliberation. “Said I never gave him any space. Would get annoyed if I wanted to spend time with him after dinner.” </p><p>Jamie lets her continue. </p><p>“Remember when I went up to the village in the evening and returned late night, a long time after all of you had eaten?” she asks, and Jamie nods. “I returned at 11, and found Owen asleep at the table, two covered plates lying beside him. The man had waited for me so we could have dinner together, so we could spend half an hour together before we had to go to bed.” </p><p>“So here’s the thing,” she goes on, “Space is definitely important in a relationship and I’m pretty sure you and Dani give each other a lot of it. But take it from me, she doesn’t think you’re clingy; she could never think you’re clingy because she’s equally, stupidly in love with you and invested in this.” </p><p>Jamie feels something inside her unclench, making it easier for her to breathe. “She loves me?” </p><p>Hannah laughs, softly. “Darling, can’t you see it yourself?” </p><p>Jamie thinks that she’s beginning to. </p><p>***** </p><p>“You cannot still be angry at me,” Owen says, after a very awkward ten minutes in the kitchen together. </p><p>“Try me,” she snarks back, although it lacks bite. Her anger is easy; it rises up like a furious hurricane within minutes and is swept away just as soon. </p><p>“Okay fine,” he admits, sitting on the chair next to her as he hands her a glass of lemonade, “Fine, you’re not a manic pixie dream—” </p><p>“—two-dime romcom love interest archetype, I believe it was—” </p><p>“—okay alright, then that too. I was just—” </p><p>“—but I was!” bursts out of her in a rush, and she slumps over the table, facedown. “I spent the entire day away from her and still couldn’t stop talking about her or thinking about her or wanting her. You know what? I know that makes me pathetic but I want to talk about my girlfriend to others! She’s perfect! She’s amazing! Ethereal! Beautiful! An angel! And I am a — a stupid love interest!” </p><p>He laughs, the asshole, and then thumps her back. </p><p>“Jamie,” he starts, “Come on. Do you think I can stop thinking about Hannah when we’re apart? Or that I don’t always want her near me? For heaven’s sake, I’m always making random snacks during the day so I can have an excuse to track her down and feed her.” </p><p>She looks at him, the embarrassment now turning to acute irritation. “Then why would you — wait, you know what — you’re a fucking asshole!” </p><p>He can’t stop laughing. Grabs her into a headlock so she can’t get up and continues laughing until she pinches at his arm. </p><p>“Are you still angry?” he inquires, after he’s done catching his breath. </p><p>“Yes!” </p><p>“Jamie, my darling,” he says, very formally, “I was just angry because we hadn’t spent time together in so damn long.” </p><p>She regards him. “What? No? We hung out just—” </p><p>He waits. </p><p>“—oh.” </p><p>“Last time we got drunk together was two weeks ago. Then, nada. I’m not saying that it’s all you. God knows I’ve done my fair share of forgetting to hang out because I was already with Hannah and it was difficult to tear myself away, I just — yeah.” </p><p>The smile that she can feel creeping up all over her face is the devil. “Owen, are you saying you miss me?” </p><p>His face darkens. “Oh fuck you.” </p><p>“Owen Sharma misses me, Owen Sharma misses me....” </p><p>“Jaime, I’m literally going to kill you.” </p><p>***** </p><p>She screams when Dani does and nearly falls off the ledge. </p><p>(Listen, in her defense, she hasn’t seen her girlfriend in over 24 hours. A show of impulse romance by climbing up the ledge right up to Dani’s room can certainly be excused) </p><p>(Also, she’s a little drunk) </p><p>“You scared me!” she says, with Dani now holding on to her. </p><p>“I scared you?” Dani exclaims. “You — I turned around and you’re suddenly at the window like a haunted owl or something.” </p><p>“Why the fuck would an owl haunt you?” </p><p>Dani opens her mouth, then closes it again. Jamie counts it as a personal victory. </p><p>She climbs over the window and lands on the inside of the room. Dani leans forward, kisses her, then draws back. </p><p>“Are you — are you drunk?” </p><p>“A little,” Jamie disentangles from her to raise her right hand with her thumb and forefinger held a tiny span apart. “Only a leetle. I was with Owen.” </p><p>“Ah, so the manic pixie dream girl and best boy have made up?” Dani teases, then quickly kisses her cheek when she protests. </p><p>“How did your experiment go?” she adds. </p><p>“Terrible. Horrible,” Jamie answers. “I kept talking about you wherever I went. It was embarrassing. If there is a lesbian equivalent of the Bechdel test, we most certainly did not pass it.” </p><p>Dani kisses at her pout until it switches to a smile, and Jamie can physically feel the elation fill her body until she guesses she’s probably floating on air by now. There’s something about being around Dani that relaxes every part of her, makes her feel so light that she thought if she could just jump hard enough, she’d float away like a heart-shaped balloon. Jamie tightens her hold on Dani, buries her face in her hair, and breathes her in until all of her senses are filled up with her. </p><p>(If wanting to hug her girlfriend like a panda all the time makes her clingy, so be it) </p><p>“If it makes you feel any better,” Dani says, still hugging her, “I couldn’t stop talking about you either. I kept bugging Hannah or Owen or whoever was nearest, asking them what you were up to. A really pretty song played on the radio and I thought —<em> I can dance with Jamie to this </em> . I tried watching a movie, and all I could think was, <em>If Jamie had been here, she would </em><em>definitely </em><em>have hidden her face in my shoulder at this part </em> . I was cold and lonely at night, and I thought <em>If Jamie were here, she would have put her hand on my </em>—” </p><p>“—Dani!” she says, scandalized. </p><p>“—<em> back to warm me up </em>,” Dani completes, smoothly, and then pulls back to look at her. “So we could cuddle and go to sleep. Why, what were you thinking?” </p><p>Jamie tries, she really does. However, only five seconds later, she’s kissing her stupid, annoying, idiotic girlfriend again. </p><p>“Let’s never do that, okay?” she says. “I kept tossing and turning all night.” </p><p>“You’re telling me,” Dani deadpans. “I slept on the floor on a mattress because the bed was just too damn empty without you there.” </p><p>“The drama,” Jamie says, although she’s smiling too wide for it to register. “Well, hopefully, you wouldn’t have to sleep without your angsty, brooding love interest ever again.” </p><p>“Oh,” Dani quirks an eyebrow, tilts her head. “Does that mean this is our happy ending?” </p><p>Jamie kisses her again, feels her smile and is more inclined to think they’re in the wonderful, beautiful, middle forever. </p><p>  </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you wanna generally scream over random fandoms or send prompts on tumblr, hit me up <a href="https://thedistrictsleepsalonetonight.tumblr.com/">here</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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